


Modus Operandi

by orphan_account



Category: Charlie's Angels (2019), Charlie's Angels (Movies)
Genre: Also there is bad language, F/F, Fluff, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Minor appearances of other Characters - Freeform, Multi, Romance, Surprisingly, more tags to be added with later chapters, not only because of Sabina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21639601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: All fight and no rest makes an Angel who needs to be wrestled into bed by her girlfriends.—A three-part dive into the (lack of) work-life balance, as executed by 3 of our favorite Angels.Previously named:In Which the Pot Calls the Kettle Black, and the Dirty Pan Laughs at Them From the Washing Rack... but it sounded too much like a Panic! At The Disco Song so I changed it.Based on a headcanon byInk_Knightandamericanhoney913
Relationships: (H)OT3, Jane Kano/Sabina Wilson/Elena Houghlin
Comments: 10
Kudos: 149





	Modus Operandi

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: if only.
> 
> (H)OT3 because you know these ladies be really hot, bijes.
> 
> No Warnings for this chapter. Ok, bad words. 
> 
> Note: Some British/Commonwealth spelling. That means color is colour and behavior is behaviour and so on. I've changed most of it to American spelling but it takes conscious effort and I need sleep, so I may have missed some.

She’s halfway through her third cup of black coffee for the hour when Sabina’s head appears around the door of the mission control room.

“You’re still here?”

“Hmm?” Elena says eloquently, taking a sip from her (now cold) drink. Her free hand scrolls, moving her up to an earlier part of the code so she can reference a line she wrote. As she scans the document, she spots a discrepancy — she scrolls faster to her target, copies the line she wants, then goes to where the erroneous code is, squints at it, tweaks some of the start, and then some of the end, then the middle for good measure, and runs back to the end of her code to place the line she copied and—

The screen of her laptop comes down and narrowly misses her fingers; she squeaks in alarm, despite having retracted her phalanges just in time. The culprit of this heinous crime has a hand resting firmly atop her now closed laptop, and a toothy grin on her goddamn face.

“Sabina Wilson! You almost smashed my fingers!” she complains. Jane’s in the room as well, probably having followed Sabina when the latter came to check on Elena, and is presently leaning against the main console of the ‘computer nest’ (as some of the angels call it), reading her book.

“That was the only way I could get your attention, sweetheart. It is now… ” The blonde woman shakes out an imaginary sleeve (she’s wearing a tank top) and gives an exaggerated gasp at her non-existent wristwatch, “Oh dear! Way past a certain, dark-haired, dorky, computer genius’ bedtime. Goodness, gracious me.”

Sabina’s hands move to take ~~her baby~~ Elena’s computer away from her, but Elena is a step ahead and has already latched herself firmly onto the device, and is now hanging on for dear life.

“But I’m not done! Seriously, 'Bina, I’m barely halfway, and we need this code. The agency needs this code. I need to test out the new transference device, and I need to get it done by next week—“

Jane shuts her book with a snap and Elena stops, mid-sentence. The woman’s expression is stormy as she walks over to the pair, looking from Sabina’s quizzical expression, to Elena’s half-desperate, half-indignant look. Jane usually doesn’t intervene when it comes to situations like these, which were, okay, they happen fairly often but! Well, she has lots of stuff to do!

“You said the code for transference device. Has the device been manufactured yet?”

“No, it’s still being designed by R&D—“

“So even if you complete the code, there is no housing to put it in, is that correct?”

“Yes, but they are making the housing soon, they just need to tweak some parts of the design.”

“Ok. Next, is there a deadline for the code?”

“I need it by next week—“

“Is there a deadline?”

“No there isn’t, but—“ She knows the battle is lost when she sees the look in Jane’s eyes. A sharp jerk, and the laptop is dislodged from her grasp and the power port, and is now in Jane’s hands.

“Jane! Please!” An idea comes to her caffeine-riddled brain when she spots the empty solar pocket beneath her laptop, and she pitches her voice higher, pretending to panic, “My computer! It needs to be plugged into the power port at all times, it doesn’t have a battery pack. If you unplug it the whole thing turns off and all my stuff will be gone, my god! Why didn’t you check with me before taking it off? My work’s not saved, it could be all gone now! Look I get that you all are concerned about my sleep but, seriously, could you not jeopardize my work while you’re at it?!? Here, hand it back to me so I can recover my work—“

“Nice try, Houghlin.” Jane’s smooth English cuts her off. She winces at the tinge of disapproval in the woman’s tone.

“The entire line of AdVent SOL computers have a built-in lithium ion battery and _detachable_ set of solar panels which help to recharge said battery, which are attached via,” she lifts the laptop to tap her finger on the gaping hole under her computer, “this empty port right here. Also, the software this laptop runs on is the same one that you created for the _entire agency_ to use, and one of the features of that software is that it saves a digital imprint of your entire interface into a cloud continuously. Also, I know you are hyper-anxious about your work, so you save your progress every hour, like clockwork, so there is no chance that your work is _all_ gone, _Doctor_.”

Her retort renders Elena speechless. Sabina crows triumphantly and takes this chance to swivel Elena around in the chair and prod her cheerily to her feet.

“Kano, you out-computer-geeked the computer geek! Come on Eleanor, you heard the lady.”

“I—That’s not my name—hey!“

Her weak protests are ignored as she is strong-armed the rest of the way to their favorite suite. Which the girls must have booked an overnight for, which means they planned her kidnapping.

“No fair, this is two against one, and I know you planned this!”

“Well, that because we are tired of seeing you grind yourself down to the bone over stupid strings of, like, computer snot. You’ve been in that control room for 3 days! And we only ever see you come out for more coffee.” Sabina says loudly as they sit her down on the couch. Jane makes a beeline for the bags beside the king-sized bed and starts rummaging a duffel bag that looks suspiciously like the kind she likes to carry her guns around in.

“Coding takes time! This is kidnapping. It’s…. against my human rights, it’s illegal!”

“Protocol states that if an agent is emotionally or physically compromised, they need to relieve themselves of active duty. In the case where they are unable to make their own decisions, decisions will be deferred to their medical proxies. And your medical proxies are?”

Elena deflates a little, “Both of you.”

Sabina beams as she takes a seat, jabbing a finger at her own chest, “I activated my proximity powers first. I told on you to Jane.”

“Sabina! Why would you do that?” Elena cries while Jane clicks her tongue, still rummaging through her bag.

“Because you are sleep-deprived and starving, and therefore physically compromised. Also, you’re _quite_ shit at making decisions, so we are making them for you, right here, right now. And its proxy, B, not proximity.”

“That’s what I said!”

“Yeah, no. Heads up.” Jane says as she comes over with clothes in her arms and tosses a set Sabina. The blonde catches hers and from within its folds, pulls out another set of bed clothes, they look suspiciously familiar—

“How did you get these?!? Did you go into my room? Did you lift prints off of me again? Sabina Wilson!” Sabina rolls her eyes at this, slinging an arm around Elena’s shoulders, as you would to someone who's pissed.

“Calm down, firefly. You left them in my washing the last time you slept over, remember?”

“But I slept over yesterday, before I started coding…?”

Jane sighs and puts a hand over her eyes, while Sabina starts to say, “Sweetheart, when was the last time you slept? Monday?”

“Ah-ha! No, no it was Tuesday.” Elena countered, puffing herself up. It should count for something, right? She slept yesterday, on –

“Tuesday was 22 October. It’s 26 October today.” Sabina exchanges an exasperated glance with Jane, “That’s 4 whole days. It’s worse than we thought.”

“What? It’s Saturday?” Sabina pulls gaping Elena to her feet and the two of them usher her into the washroom as she continues to reel from the shock that it Tuesday had been 4 days ago? Where did the time go?

“Wash up, brush your teeth, and change. We are going to bed. And tomorrow morning, or afternoon, whenever you wake, we are going out and having a proper meal. You are not allowed anywhere near your work until you’ve gotten at least 3, well, 4 nights of proper rest and 3, 6, 9,” Sabina cheerfully counts off her fingers, “12 proper, square, maybe slightly larger than normal meals.”

Jane nods as she presses a towel into Elena’s hands (where did she pull that out from? She did not see her take it), “This is _our_ standard protocol when you stop eating and drinking to do your work. You should know this by now, we’ve explained this to you before. You signed it.”

Elena stops the door just before it clicks shut and sticks her head out.

“Wait, I have been eating! Not just coffee, but, like, food! I had bread this morning, toast with jam.”

“What day is it today?” Jane asks, crossing her arms. Sabina cocks a brow at Elena.

“Well, yesterday was Tuesday so, today is…” her brain catches up with her mouth and she stops, realizing as she sees Jane’s already serious expression darken. Oops.

“Wait, I—“ Before she can say another word, she is gently pushed further into the bathroom, and the door is shut in her face.

Damn.

A quick washing up and Elena is rustled out of the bathroom and onto the bed, where Sabina helps her blow-dry her freshly washed hair. Jane gets out a make-up wipe and starts working at the 4-day-old make up on her face, even though Elena is pretty sure most of it is gone by now, except maybe the eye make-up. She yawns as Jane dabs her (crusty) eye, the warm whir of hair-dryer like a heat-cloud around her head.

After all the time she spent in that cold room, with only coffee and beeping and computer screens for company, this actually feels pretty good. Her caffeine rush was starting to taper off, and… maybe Sabina was right… maybe she did really work on that code for 4 days. But it was not even halfway complete….

The rumble of the hairdryer stops just as Jane makes a satisfied noise at the back of her throat. Sabina ruffles her dry, feather-like hair playfully.

“All done.”

“That fa..A…” another yawn cuts her sentence off. Jane hands Sabina her items and points at the middle of the bed.

“Center. Under the sheets.” She does as she’s told, obediently now, because she is honestly too exhausted to care. She sinks under the heavy blanket, drinking in the soft, cool, freshly laundered sheets. A part of her soul sighs in contentment – she would not be surprised if she actually sighed out loud as well. God, she loved this job.

As she curls into a warm cocoon, watching her girls going about the room to turn off the lights, she notes vaguely that Jane and Sabina have already changed into their own sleep-wear, Sabina’s an over-sized One Piece T-Shirt that Elena had got for her last Christmas and her underwear, and Jane a matching sweatshirt with joggers.

They looked so good. But she’s completely, as ‘Bina likes to say, partied out.

Goddamn. Maybe tomorrow then.

The final light goes out, and they all murmur their _good nights_ as Jane slides into bed on Elena’s left, and Sabina more or less dives under the sheets on her right with a small whoop. She giggles sleepily, and searches for Jane’s hand under the sheets. Jane finds her first and they lock fingers in the dark as Sabina snuggles close.

Surprisingly, as tired as she is, she lies awake for a while, unable to drift off. She hears Sabina’s breath even out, watching her back rise and fall as she breathes. Jane and her hands are still locked loosely, under the sheets. She is trying to focus on Jane’s breathing and counting her breaths, when she is reminded of something that the other woman said earlier.

“Jane, are you awake?” She feels her shift, and she continues, “Earlier, when you were giving me that… talking to* about the software?”

“Mmhmm?” In the dark, Jane turns towards Elena and she feels a tap on her shoulder, so she lifts her head automatically to let the woman slip her arm under her, so they can spoon.

“You actually _listened_ to my lecture about how to use the software?”

Jane makes a scoffing sound and Elena feels the arm she’s currently using as a pillow move to poke Sabina, who Elena thought was asleep.

“ _l'enfant_ , _nos crevette_ wants to know if we listen to her lectures about her technology.”

In the darkness, Sabina turns with a huff and scoots closer, and Elena feels a kiss being placed on her forehead.

“Y’know for someone so smart, you sure are a little dense when it comes to us.”

“What _mon canard_ here means is,” Jane sighs drowsily as she presses close to Elena, her body molding around hers like they were made for each other, “We will always listen to whatever you have to say, _mon_ _coeur,_ not just because we love your voice, but also because you’re an incredible, intelligent woman and your word deserves to be heard.”

Elena is already blushing. She is thanking god for the fact that it is dark as Sabina hums in approval, “You tell her, my favorite string bean. Now, remind me to have a talk with you tomorrow morning about that tone you used with Elena in the control room.”

“What’s wrong with it.” Jane deadpans, and Elena closes her eyes, cocooned in Jane’s arms and being lulled to sleep by Sabina’s sweet breath as she hisses at Jane.

“What’s wrong with it? Baby, it was too fuckin’ sexy, that what’s wrong with it. When you shot questions at her? Heavenly. When you went off about the solar panels? I wanted you to sit on my face. And that ‘Doctor’ you did, with that voice.”

“What voice.”

“You asshole, you know which voice!” In the dark, Sabina starts gesturing so wildly, the bed starts to tremble a little and Elena can feel the small breeze that her hands generate. “It’s the crazy hot one you like to use on us – your Tuesday Trysts’ voice? How dare you call ladybug that, in public! I almost went down on you then and there – do you know that you put the mission objective in jeopardy? Also, it’s not even Tuesday, it’s Saturday. That voice is meant only for Tuesday Trysts.”

“It is _my_ voice, I will use it whenever, and in whatever way I want. Besides, Tuesday is _date_ night, and although it often ends with three of us, in a room, alone, no one has ever, ever called it a ‘Tuesday Tryst’ –“

“How dare you! That name is official, and sacred, Elena and I came up with it, didn’t we, peanut?”

It takes a moment for her to answer, because she could feel sleep pulling her deeper with its soft, sticky fingers.

“… we did, it’s a Tuesday Tryst.”

“Aha! See.”

“I can’t see. It’s too dark.”

“Hey, babes?” She mumbles sleepily, her left hand reaching for and finding Jane’s thigh. Her other hand is already twisted loosely in the folds Sabina’s oversized night-shirt. At her voice, Jane exhales into her hair and Sabina stops her rambling.

“You are both too noisy. Go the fuck to sleep.” There is a beat, then Jane’s body starts to shake with silent laughter and Sabina chokes.

The next thing she feels is a kiss being placed on the back of her head and another on the tip of her nose.

“Goodnight, love.”

And she finally sleeps.

**Author's Note:**

> *You may/may not see Elena and Sabina pick up some of Jane's Englishy terms as we go on, 'talking to' instead of scolding, maybe some 'quite's or 'mate's or 'innit's, and my personal favorite, 'lovely's or 'brilliant's thrown in eventually.
> 
>  _l'enfant_ = Infant/Child  
>  _nos crevette_ = our shrimp  
>  _mon canard_ = my duckling  
>  _mon coeur_ = my heart
> 
> For all those who have no idea what suite I'm taking about, [here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_V1TcEuFs-6z1mOymvyHhS-zRE7eN6bq/view?usp=sharing). It's a personal headcanon of mine that Townsend Agency has suites for their girls to use for sleepovers and the such. If you want to hear the full headcanon... well. Let me know. its just a random detail, actually.
> 
> Next up: Jane with her Angst™
> 
> Last will be Sabina. Lots of gratuitous Hurt/Comfort in this one ;D
> 
> (Pardon if the next chapters are slower in appearing. I will not be able to access my computer to write/post from 4-13 December)


End file.
